On a power trip
The usual consensus is that when a state entity is privatised the end result will be a company that is better geared towards providing improved customer service and is friendlier towards it's clients.
This was proven to a great degree when a lot of banks were privatised and the transition saw them emerge as organisations that strive to provide improved customer satisfaction and there was more consistency in their SOPs. Many of the local banks with the inception of a corporate culture now compete with the international banks on an even footing and while soke may argue that there is still lots to ground to cover everyone generally agrees that there have been tremendous improvements as well.
Similar is the case with Pak Telecom or PTCL which is now a private entity. It is still struggling to shake off the effects of being a state owned corporation, for example the still extremely powerful workers union and the fact that many of its One Stop shops are still manned or in some cases womanned by the traditional mould of PTCL employees, despite the new look offices.
But the company has made some strides and will no doubt continue to make more as it competes with the likes of Mobilink, Warid, MaxCom and others in the field of telephony, mobile telephony and broadband internet.
But there is one company which has without a doubt lost ground after privatisation. And I am talking more about company image, friendliness, about providing the user with a sense of caring and customer satisfaction. The company I am talking about is the Karachi Electric Supply Company as I believe it is now called, and not Corporation, but I could be wrong and if so, I apologise. But suffice to say, we all know what I am talking about.
Over the years, people will remember that KESC has always been a problem child with break-downs, loadshedding and tripping as common and frequent problems occurring on a daily basis. But people will also remember that KESC always managed to get a handle on these problems in Ramadan, as a gesture of goodwill, shall we say? And KESC also managed to get a hold of this and drastically cut down power outages in winter, when obviously consumption was low.
But ever since privatization, several things have happened, and at the rick of sounding like a sour puss, all of these changes have been for the bad.
For one, there is no relief now in Ramadan, after all, it is now a private entity and is here to make money. Ok, let us agree with that, since all private entities are doing a business with the eventual aim of making money are they not. I mean, when schools and hospitals follow this premise how can we find fault with the KES for following this doctrine.
Another change has been the fact that unlike before when both the KESC and WAPDA were public-sector siblings, now the bigger brother, WAPDA no longer feels obligated to come to the rescue of its errant younger brother in it's time of need by diverting power from the national grid to the City of Lights (read that darkness).
A third, but not final change for the worse has been the fact that now there is little or no reduction in load-shedding during the winter months either. One fails to understand the logic behind this when the KESC should be better able to meet the demands of its consumers with power requirements at a low. The only logic that comes to mind is that KESC saves money by not purchasing gas or furnace oil during these months and continues to resort to loadshedding to compensate for the shortfall in power generation.
The attitude of the KESC management of constantly being less than forthcoming about where the actual problem lies each time there is a power crisis is also quite demeaning to the citizens of Karachi. One is never sure if the darkness is cased by loadshedding, or a breakdown, or a shutdown because of maintenance. The KESC helpline is of no use, the answers are equally enigmatic and often insult the intelligence of the consumer. That is when the consumer is able to get through to a customer service representative at all.
But the last straw, one that rubs the wrong way to an extreme degree and leaves a very bad taste in the mouth is the recent wave of KESC advertisements, part of the new campaign to curb electricity theft. The killing blow, after years of suffering at the hands of the monopoly in the dark, the heat and after being told clearly, that we have no choice but to put up with it, is being labelled a thief.
The ads speak about a sense of responsibility and about being ethical and about playing our part in ensuring that the entire community benefits, and the majority does not pay for the wrongs committed by a few. That is all well and good. But not quite.
What about the sense of responsibility and commitment and sense of caring that KESC should be showing towards its consumers. Why is it that the KESC simply shuts down the minute there is a shortfall in payments or the minute some furnace oil or gas provider agreement falls through. Why is it so easy for the KESc to just turn around and say, ok, we will not provide power to the people.
Where does the credo of caring for the community and ensuring that paying customers do not suffer go? And it has been a fair bit of time since the new management took over, and we have yet to witness an increase in the capacity of the company to generate more power. The power tariff continues to rise every few months yet the KESC is still ever short of cash and constantly harping about its inability to purchase more fuel be it gas or furnace oil to keep the power plants operational.
Maybe the hundreds of thousands of rupees spent in print, tv and radio advertisements calling people a thief could have been better used to revamp the transmission system and keep the power plants up and running.
As power outages continue, as power plants are shut down for maintenance or break down, and feeders continue to trip, the KESC manages to stay afloat, and focussed on its own power trip.
This was proven to a great degree when a lot of banks were privatised and the transition saw them emerge as organisations that strive to provide improved customer satisfaction and there was more consistency in their SOPs. Many of the local banks with the inception of a corporate culture now compete with the international banks on an even footing and while soke may argue that there is still lots to ground to cover everyone generally agrees that there have been tremendous improvements as well.
Similar is the case with Pak Telecom or PTCL which is now a private entity. It is still struggling to shake off the effects of being a state owned corporation, for example the still extremely powerful workers union and the fact that many of its One Stop shops are still manned or in some cases womanned by the traditional mould of PTCL employees, despite the new look offices.
But the company has made some strides and will no doubt continue to make more as it competes with the likes of Mobilink, Warid, MaxCom and others in the field of telephony, mobile telephony and broadband internet.
But there is one company which has without a doubt lost ground after privatisation. And I am talking more about company image, friendliness, about providing the user with a sense of caring and customer satisfaction. The company I am talking about is the Karachi Electric Supply Company as I believe it is now called, and not Corporation, but I could be wrong and if so, I apologise. But suffice to say, we all know what I am talking about.
Over the years, people will remember that KESC has always been a problem child with break-downs, loadshedding and tripping as common and frequent problems occurring on a daily basis. But people will also remember that KESC always managed to get a handle on these problems in Ramadan, as a gesture of goodwill, shall we say? And KESC also managed to get a hold of this and drastically cut down power outages in winter, when obviously consumption was low.
But ever since privatization, several things have happened, and at the rick of sounding like a sour puss, all of these changes have been for the bad.
For one, there is no relief now in Ramadan, after all, it is now a private entity and is here to make money. Ok, let us agree with that, since all private entities are doing a business with the eventual aim of making money are they not. I mean, when schools and hospitals follow this premise how can we find fault with the KES for following this doctrine.
Another change has been the fact that unlike before when both the KESC and WAPDA were public-sector siblings, now the bigger brother, WAPDA no longer feels obligated to come to the rescue of its errant younger brother in it's time of need by diverting power from the national grid to the City of Lights (read that darkness).
A third, but not final change for the worse has been the fact that now there is little or no reduction in load-shedding during the winter months either. One fails to understand the logic behind this when the KESC should be better able to meet the demands of its consumers with power requirements at a low. The only logic that comes to mind is that KESC saves money by not purchasing gas or furnace oil during these months and continues to resort to loadshedding to compensate for the shortfall in power generation.
The attitude of the KESC management of constantly being less than forthcoming about where the actual problem lies each time there is a power crisis is also quite demeaning to the citizens of Karachi. One is never sure if the darkness is cased by loadshedding, or a breakdown, or a shutdown because of maintenance. The KESC helpline is of no use, the answers are equally enigmatic and often insult the intelligence of the consumer. That is when the consumer is able to get through to a customer service representative at all.
But the last straw, one that rubs the wrong way to an extreme degree and leaves a very bad taste in the mouth is the recent wave of KESC advertisements, part of the new campaign to curb electricity theft. The killing blow, after years of suffering at the hands of the monopoly in the dark, the heat and after being told clearly, that we have no choice but to put up with it, is being labelled a thief.
The ads speak about a sense of responsibility and about being ethical and about playing our part in ensuring that the entire community benefits, and the majority does not pay for the wrongs committed by a few. That is all well and good. But not quite.
What about the sense of responsibility and commitment and sense of caring that KESC should be showing towards its consumers. Why is it that the KESC simply shuts down the minute there is a shortfall in payments or the minute some furnace oil or gas provider agreement falls through. Why is it so easy for the KESc to just turn around and say, ok, we will not provide power to the people.
Where does the credo of caring for the community and ensuring that paying customers do not suffer go? And it has been a fair bit of time since the new management took over, and we have yet to witness an increase in the capacity of the company to generate more power. The power tariff continues to rise every few months yet the KESC is still ever short of cash and constantly harping about its inability to purchase more fuel be it gas or furnace oil to keep the power plants operational.
Maybe the hundreds of thousands of rupees spent in print, tv and radio advertisements calling people a thief could have been better used to revamp the transmission system and keep the power plants up and running.
As power outages continue, as power plants are shut down for maintenance or break down, and feeders continue to trip, the KESC manages to stay afloat, and focussed on its own power trip.
posted by lone-ranger at 5:19 PM
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